Has Wildhorn apologized yet?

[morosco]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 4:33pm

For having only 6 musicians in the DRACULA pit?

[BT]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 4:34pm

the rest died when the cast got hungry ...

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:24pm

Now I'm serious here. Does the band sound powerful enough with only 6 people? are there drums? This seems strange to me.

[timote316]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:28pm

why would he have to appologize? if he wanted 6 musicians, then there will be 6 musicians, however wier that may be.

[gwapnisky]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:29pm

OK... here's what's in the pit...
Reeds (1)
Cello (1)
Percussion (1)
Key I (1)
Key II (1)
Key III (1)

[Mythus]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:38pm

I'm a total idiot, but does Key mean keyboard? And if so, jeez, three is two too many.

[gwapnisky]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:39pm

Half the pit is synthesizer.

[Mythus]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:43pm

Eek. What ever happened to playing actual instruments? Synthesizers sound so...well, synthesized.

[gwapnisky]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:47pm

For whatever reason. And nobody knows why, that is what the creative team came up with. All those ballads on synthesizers.

My feeling is that if you only have 6 musicians, you only have to fire 6 people in the next week when the show closes its doors.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 8/20/04 at 11:47pm

I think it'll last longer than that with Halloween coming up.

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:36am

I almost wonder if they should have waited to open it closer to Holloween. Some people my think that that would have been to much like WICKED thoug.......well... depending on when they opened it.

[SMichaelK]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:42am

I'll tell you what though from the reviews I've been reading any connection to Wicked would be good. I can't imagine too many people having issues with its monetary success. I'm not saying greatest musical ever by any means, but its still going strong last time I checked.

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:54am

Can someone answer something for me. I though last year after the strike, they made a rule that you need a minimum of I think it was 20 people in a pit. How can this show have only 6?

[mtdog13]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:56am

I do not believe that is true, last time I checked. Rent most definitely does not have 20 and couldn't. More than 20 would destroy its Bohemian quality. Maybe Dracula wants that quality as well.

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:58am

I dont remember the exact number but it was around 20. Maybe there was something more to the agreement that only applied to certain show. Can someone help me out?

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:59am

I haven't heard any music from the show but 6 instruments and some synthesizeification may sound a little sparse to accompany a show. I mean, if I'm not mistaken, the Off-Broadway production of Little Shop only had 8 musicians, and they expanded it to 12 for Broadway, and that sounds like a larger orchestra, but 6 does sound like a small number.

[mtdog13]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:59am

I'm telling you, I followed the issue quite closely and never saw any specific agreement on 20. That was the initial agreement that was being aimed for, yet in the end, it didn't pass and changed a bit.

[mtdog13]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 1:01am

Oh, and Forbidden Broadway only had a pianist for the "orchestra". Trust me, there is nothing set for orchestra numbers.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 1:09am

Rent only has 5. Urinetown had 5 or 6. Avenue Q has 6, I think.

Of course, these are all shows that originated Off-Broadway and then transferred.

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:19am

This kinda scares me. One thing I am really looking for when I attend a show is good sound design and a good sounding orchestra. In reading the reviews, it seems that Des Mcnuff was going for a serious show. This says full orchestra to me! I want to see the show no matter what the critics say. Hope it is still there in the fall. Would like to form my own opinion about it. I must say that the thing that most impressed me at Wicked was the sound design. I counted 21 in the pit. The Orchestra sounded amazingly like they do on the CD. (And my understanding is that they, I think, added a few musicians for the recording. Not overpowing at all. Synthesizers, to me at least, can have a tendency to overpower the performers. Also, the sound design here in Denver for Brooklyn was quite impressive. It played in a theatre (Denver Civic Theatre) that is just slightly larger than The American Theatre of Actors where BARE played. I hope it is just as good in NY.

[Dawg]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:49pm

The number of musicians used in a show is dependent on the house they are in contractually. Meaning: since the Belasco isn't usually used for musicals, I imagine the minimum is pretty low. And besides this, every show's contract with the union is individual. Whatever Dracula's producers worked out with the union is satisfactory to both parties, or else I can guarantee there would be picketers outside the Belasco.

[magruder]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 12:52pm

The house minimum for musicians at the Belasco for a musical is three musicians. And as mentioned earlier, Dracula uses 6.

[lovettespies]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:12pm

The difference between a small orchestra for Urinetown and one for Dracula is that Dracula is an epic in terms of size. the special effects are huge, the costumes are huge, there are ballads. Then you have this small little orchestra of six? Urinetown and Avenue Q are smaller scaled productions and a small pit adds to the feeling of the musical. This number just seems too small, but I haven't seen it yet so maybe I just don't understand the sound they want.

[gwapnisky]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:30pm

What Dracula has does not constitute an orchestra.

3 synthsizers, a reed, a cello and percussion.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:33pm

That's why I call it a band.